Changing Warframes Lore-Wise

[Noxonion]

So, there was a guess that Tenno are actually infested, but in a more stabilized state (Hayden).

 

And from time to time, there pops out a question:

 

,,What about changing Warframes? How does it fit lore-wise?"

 

There is a quite simple answer:

 

You imagine that you're always one of them (for eternity).

 

 

But I have an idea.

 

You know what Technocyte causes, right? Zits (tumors), Hives, Infested.

 

What if you change Warframes by morphing your body?

 

Maybe you can become a mass of flesh and then morph into another Warframe?

 

What do you think? Ideas?

[Archistopheles]

What?

 

No. We're Tenno. We wear warframes like suits of armor.

[Noxonion]

What?

 

No. We're Tenno. We wear warframes like suits of armor.

What about changing genders then?

[Un1337ninj4]

I'd say that's something to be left in the wind until we know more.

[Shifted]

I always went with a theory that there's only one of the Warframes in the universe (i.e. one Rhino, one Excalibur) etc.

Just for lore's sake.

 

Just look at Borderlands, same thing.

[(PSN)The_Moustache]

From what I understand, each frame is a different Tenno. The regular frames are the mass produced ones based on the Primes. The frames are built around the person to focus their powers and help them control them. There isn't any changing genders or bodies.

[GaleRoar]

What about changing genders then?

We don't even know about the amount of Tenno we have, so I wouldn't leave that off.

But that's a debate for another thread.

According to Excalibur's lore, we can deduce that the Void had disfigured the Tenno, giving them powers, as shown with the children in Ember's lore. Excalibur's lore also states that the Orokin put armor around the Tenno, making them into the warrior-gods we know.

Also, the Dual Ether's description involves "'cleansing' infested allies" of the Technocyte, but we could write that off as the zero tech soldiers in Mag Prime's lore.

From Stalker's lore, we know they killed the Orokin, and that Stalker was a low guardian that survived. The Tenno, of course, were then put into cryosleep for unknown reasons and woken up by Lotus.

The Arid Fear entry also has Vor suggesting that the Warframes are conduits, and as we know from Ember's lore, the children had powers of fire before their their Warframes. The Warframes likely amplify the Tenno's abilities.

Essentially, that's all we know.

Edited July 6, 2014 by GaleRoar

[Staggeringking]

Someone recently posted that the Devs said that warframes wrapped themselves around the tenno, so the shape of the frame is not affected by the shape of the tenno. 

 

I guess that means that each frame fits itself over a tenno in a way that the frame's shape isn't changed, just scaled up/down. Like the ring of power from LOTR. Still seems silly to me and im not sure if the Devs said that, but OP's suggestion would fix the gender/size issues, and causes the least fictional controversy imo

[gnat6]

I always went with a theory that there's only one of the Warframes in the universe (i.e. one Rhino, one Excalibur) etc.

Just for lore's sake.

 

Just look at Borderlands, same thing.

That has been proven false on multiple occasions both from the ps4 launch trailer where excalibur is killed and from the devstreams where it was stated that there are more than one of each frame.

[JerZeyCJ]

I subscribe to the "one frame, one Tenno" theory. Every Warframe is a different Tenno, since after being exposed to the Void, they developed certain powers(which they naturally have and the frames themselves only amplify). Some Tenno may have become "Frosts" and had developed ice based powers, while others may have become "Saryn's" and developed toxin/corrosive powers. As the lore states, the frames were built around the Tenno, that sounds like something rather permanent and not like  a change of wardrobe. Of course, we also have various things that conflict with this sentiment, the most recent one I can think of is the message the Lotus sent us on the one year anniversary, which mentioned us having mastered new warframes. I just think of that as a little bit of necessary fourth wall breaking on DE's part to simply refer to us, the player.

[Katakuna]

My belief is that each Tenno is an individual that we control, but that all individuals in the same warframe are the same, physically.

 

For example, your Oberon is an individual person that you control.  He has his own personality, fighting style, and fashion sense that you dictate.  However, the Void's mutation made it so that every Oberon is physically the same, and altered them if they weren't.  Without a Player to guide them, every Oberon is exactly the same, even though they are different people.  The same would be true for every other warframe.  However, this belief also assumes that the "Player" is in-universe somehow, since Mastery Rank in it current form is a thing.  Like an overseer, dictating every single action of his or her chosen Tenno.

 

That's just what I believe anyway.  And until we know exactly where DE officially stands on this Mono-Tenno/Poly-Tenno debate (with up-to-date info, not musings that are months old), that is what I will always believe.

[Beas7ie]

I always went with a theory that there's only one of the Warframes in the universe (i.e. one Rhino, one Excalibur) etc.

Just for lore's sake.

 

Just look at Borderlands, same thing.

 

If that's the case then that means there is no more Excalibur because he got chopped up in The Profit video by Salad V.  

 

I don't think that's the case and if it were so then it wouldn't make sense to make Warframe a MMO type game to begin with.  There are multiple versions of each frame.  Some frames may be not be as numerous as the others, but there is definitely more than one of each frame.  This also explains the customization of colors and armor and helmets, and how there are thousands of Tenno running around.

[vaugahn]

I like to think that there's many tenno and that the warframes we play are essentially classes that all look the same due to gameplay reasons. In-universe, I imagine all excalibur-type tenno have slightly different abilities and looks, but all follow the same general role and aesthetic.

[TMHowler]

During one of the earlier devstreams, the same question was given to the dev-group back then. I am not sure who said it, but it was something along the lines that Each Tenno is his/her own and that we control multiple Tenno, just using one at a time.

If the above is not proof enough, here's something else:

How can Prime frames and non-primes frames exist at the same time?
 

[Archistopheles]

What about changing genders then?

 

You're still just wearing a suit.

[Orbister]

We are ONE single tenno who can "wear" many suits it has been confirmed by DESteve that we are ONE SINGLE tenno, also, all characters ingame refer to us as one single tenno, gender is related to the original prototype of each TYPE of warframe, and gender traits stay there because its easier to copy things just as they are, this leaves a very big question, how do we fit inside the suits, well maybe we dont even fit inside, gender is not such a big problem when u think about the proportions of Nekros and Oberon, it is obvious there is no human inside of them, we are the Operating Sytem of the tenno that is all. 

 

inb4 you ask me to post sources u can google them or check the wikipedia they are very easy to find... DE steve confirming we are one tenno is in a Devstream and there is a letter from the Lotus saying how we (as one single tenno) have masterer many frames, that letter arrived during the Specters of Liberty event.

[Bloodywing]

I always went with a theory that there's only one of the Warframes in the universe (i.e. one Rhino, one Excalibur) etc.

Just for lore's sake.

 

Just look at Borderlands, same thing.

If so, then you should not be able to play Excalibur, hs was chpped up in "The Profit" trailer.

[(PSN)Swiggey]

I'm chalking the actual mechanic of changing frames/body types/genders as...game mechanics. Simple as that imo.

[Shifted]

That has been proven false on multiple occasions both from the ps4 launch trailer where excalibur is killed and from the devstreams where it was stated that there are more than one of each frame.

 

If that's the case then that means there is no more Excalibur because he got chopped up in The Profit video by Salad V.  

 

If so, then you should not be able to play Excalibur, hs was chpped up in "The Profit" trailer.

And in that same trailer alad v gets booted out of the window into a loooooooong fall, yet we can still fight him on jupiter.

 

So, infinite universes :D

[Beas7ie]

And in that same trailer alad v gets booted out of the window into a loooooooong fall, yet we can still fight him on jupiter.

 

So, infinite universes :D

 

He grabbed onto a ledge not far below and climbed back up when all the Tenno left. 

[TMHowler]

I want to add something to my previous comment:

Imagine the change of Warframes as if you change character in any MMORPG (for example WoW: How can you change from Male Human Paladin to Female Goblin Warlock and still remain in the same world and realm?)

Find a legit answer to my example and put it in Warframe :D

Edited July 6, 2014 by TMHowler

[Sidathe]

The Tenno are all clones! And the Warframes are bonded to the DNA of each one, so it ends up growing with it too, save for the electronic bits. Those are surgically implanted into the suit. o 3o

[Jin_Kazama]

Whats so hard to understand. Every Warframe has their own Tenno in it. i don't see why people are confused?

[(PSN)Gross1985]

Although the Warframes are addressed as "he" or "she" depending on their appearance, I've always assumed the Tenno are formless, and that the Warframes are corporeal or something.  Though, when I say "formless", I'm not saying they're strictly invisible.....in fact, I never got around to thinking what they could be.  Wisps?  AI?  Well, whatever they are, I never pictured the Tenno to be human.

 

But, do keep in mind that this is coming from someone who hasn't been exposed long enough to the game, let alone properly studied up on the entirety of the backstory (including its apparent relativity to one "Dark Sector").  I should study up more on it, but I'm too busy playing the game.  I don't know what language the Grineer speak, so I call it either "Russian" (compared to the Corpus, which I call "Spanish") or more often "Panzerese".

 

TL;DR

The individuals who wear the Warframes are formless in some way.  That's my opinion.

[SilentMobius]

Ok we don't have enough stable in-game information to make a call...

 

BUT, we do know what DE likes, and what makes a good story.

 

1. DE have stated in a Devstream that no matter how weird the game gets they like to keep things grounded. So the Tenno _are_ going to essentially human, not AI, not energy. Just a person.

2. DE have said that they don't want to dictate the appearance or personality of your Tenno, so they are all going to be different according to the player that controls them and also have an _actual_ appearance.

3. DE have designed a game with _one_ persistent POV regardless of Warframe, all progression is per-player and DE Steve has said in a devstream "Your player... your Tenno" So we each control one Tenno per account.

4. DE _didn't_ design this game like an MMO with a separate inventory, progression mechanic and story completion track per Warframe so a Warframe is _not_ a character

5. DE don't want to have to make cross gender Warframe models so the Warframes do have a specific gendered shape 

 

So IMHO we simply have the situation that _shape_ of the pilot is irrelevant as far as _wearing_ a Warframe goes. Either the pilot adjusts themselves or maybe the Warframe adjusts the pilot. I think the latter is more likely.

 

Also note that this is the same situation as existed in Dark Sector, Nadia Sudek (Female) was the pilot of the Nemesis proto-Warframe (Male) and there is _no way_ her 5ft5 body could fit in that 7ft suit (It has a blade for a forearm) without her body adjusting, at a bare minimum she needed her knee, shoulder and elbow joints to move _and_ to lose a forearm.

 

IMHO that is the _only_ explanation that satisfies everything we currently know _and_ all the design goals that DE have.